Glassware making machines typically employ invert arms for transferring neck ring assemblies between a blank station and a blow station. A neck ring assembly may include opposed neck ring sections and a neck ring guide between the sections to keep the sections aligned during opening and closing of the sections. U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,667 discloses an example of such a neck ring assembly.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a new neck ring design that may reduce or eliminate the need for swabbing a neck ring with lubricant, and a new method of transferring neck rings among stations of a glass container manufacturing process.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A glassware-forming neck ring system in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes a neck ring assembly and a carrier assembly carrying the neck ring assembly. The neck ring assembly includes a neck ring guide having a first forming aperture therethrough around a vertical axis, and a neck ring divided along a longitudinal axis into neck ring sections that are carried by the neck ring guide and that are movable toward and away from one another along the neck ring guide along a lateral axis. The carrier assembly includes a carrier having a body with a second forming aperture therethrough, longitudinally opposite ends, laterally opposite sides between the ends, and a channel extending between the sides, restricting movement of the neck ring assembly along the vertical and longitudinal axes, and permitting movement of the neck ring assembly along the lateral axis.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a process of forming glassware that includes the following steps:                (a) acquiring a neck ring system with at least one material handler;        (b) transferring the neck ring system to a blank mold station;        (c) blank molding a glass gob into glassware having a neck finish formed by the neck ring system;        (d) transferring the glassware carried by the neck ring system to a blow mold station;        (e) blow molding the glassware carried by the neck ring system;        (f) transferring the glassware carried by the neck ring system to a ware handler; and        (g) opening the neck ring system to release the glassware from the neck ring system without releasing the at least one material handler from the neck ring system,        wherein the glassware is carried by the neck ring system through the entire glassware forming process from the blank molding station to the ware handler.        